8 8 August 2006

News:

A Chinese university professor has successfully sued one of the country's largest blog websites that refused to remove defamatory remarks written by one of his former students.

Domain name registrars and politicians are keen for EURid, the body administering the registration of the .eu domain, to state its position on the 'warehousing' of domain names for later sale. Consumer complaints prompted Diana Wallis MEP, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee, to ask the European Commission for a full explanation.

The US Senate has agreed to ratify a treaty under which it will join more than forty other countries to fight internet crimes.

Features:

Consultation on proposed new rules for gambling advertisements
European Commission consults on copyright levies
DTI publishes final consultation, draft Regulations and draft guidance on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive)
Ban on hazardous substances in electrical and electronic products takes effect 1 July 2006
Dates for your diary

The internet, through 'Web 2.0', is now a major force in the corporate world and in our social circles.

The digital society is one of the Norwegian Consumer Council's main areas of focus. We're very excited about how the digitalisation of society provides the consumer with a vast amount of new digital services that would often seem impossible only a few years (or even months) ago. As we move further into the digital age, it's very important that the needs and interests of society as a whole are taken into consideration. There's a long list of issues that must be handled for a successful entrance into the digital sphere, some of them are consumer rights, user friendliness, economics, interoperability, open standards, integration and future proofing.

The recent court case and settlement between Kazaa and the recording industry, which has resulted in the peer-to-peer file sharing system becoming a legitimate business, has reduced the relevance of debates about the ability to filter P2P systems. Siabon Seet, partner and member of the IP group at Gilbert + Tobin, who acted on behalf of the applicant record companies in the Australian Kazaa proceedings, examines the case and its implications for illegal peer-to-peer operations.

Apple developed the iPod / iTunes combination, creating a legal digital download market that has previously been dominated by filesharers, who were exchanging music and later video for free. Dr. Thomas Hays, an IP and competition consultant with Lewis Silkin, explains how Apple's success, coupled with its digital rights management policies, could encourage action by European competition regulators.

Recent internet developments have seen the introduction of new interactive business models, where users are directly involved with the content of websites. These developments provide significant commercial opportunities, but also challenges to regulating and protecting the use of web content. Kiran Sandford, partner and head of the IT group at Mishcon de Reya, examines the issues.

The internet has internationalised transactions, bringing into focus pre-contract duties, which differ according to common and civil law legal codes. Rod Kirwan, partner and Ed Hayes, solicitor, of Denton Wilde Sapte, discuss methods of managing this risk.

Christopher Rees, Head of the Herbert Smith LLP Global TMT group and Dominic Callaghan, senior associate, provide an overview of the latest key developments in IT and eCommerce in the EU.

Competition: Independent Music Publishers v Commission
Copyright : Steinbeck v McIntosh & Otis
ISP Liability: Brein Foundation/ISPs